Life on the Road – Trucking News Blog

I am in the process of studying for the Illinois CDL test because they have a problem recognizing my 13 year truck driving career with an Alabama CDL. The more I pick up the book the madder I get. I was having a hard time focusing on the problem at hand so I decided to start from the beginning of the book like I was just learning to drive. That is when I read this next passage.

The Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986 (CMVSA) was passed by Congress to address the problems caused by irresponsible and unqualified bus and truck drivers who are damaging the image of a safety-conscious profession. Unqualified drivers, often licensed following inadequate testing in many other states, have been found to be the cause of tragic accidents and other threats to highway safety. Many times, these drivers sought to escape responsibility for their actions by carrying driver’s licenses issued by many states and spreading their traffic convictions among these licenses — thus avoiding suspensions or revocations.

The CMVSA was designed to stop these abuses by prohibiting drivers from holding more than one license. A nationwide information system prevents the issuance of multiple licenses, allows states to exchange information on traffic violations and makes it easier to remove problem drivers from the road. Those drivers who violate the law are subject to tougher penalties.

In addition, the law requires states to adopt uniform testing standards for commercial drivers prior to licensing. These testing standards are similar to those in effect in Illinois for years. Illinois was one of only 12 states to require testing in the type of vehicle for which an applicant is seeking a license.

Finally, sanctions for serious traffic violators will help ensure that commercial drivers remain accountable for their actions.

Lets look at the highlighted text shall we? I want to jump down to “The law requires states to adopt uniform testing standards.” If the federal law requires uniform testing standards, then why is the state of Illinois worried about inadequate testing in other states?  when was the last time you had a drivers license in two states at the same time? If states are allowed to exchange information then why in the world can’t the State Of Illinois have a dag gum chat with the fine folks down there in Alabama and discuss my 13 year driving record so I don’t have to be treated like I BOUGHT MINE!??

Its not my fault that a former Illinois Governor, now a convict, sold CDL’s like bubble gum. He’s in jail, punish him! The tragic accidents they speak of in the Illinois CDL study guide are from the Seventies, and what they should have wrote was that a former Governor sold Illinois Cdl drivers licenses like candy and some of the illegal aliens he sold licenses to couldn’t read English and had fatality involved accidents.

Drivers when and if you decide to move to another state, check with the state you are moving to and see how well you career stands up to their licensing standards before you move there. Don’t do like me and show up with thirty days left on your current state CDL and find that you have to take the whole thing over again.

             Well It has been a good long time since I have posted here. A lot has gone on since I was last seen here. I’ll Make it short for you. I Moved to another state. It took almost a year to accomplish but We did it. I have a dilemma though. My CDL Expires at the end of this month and I just found out that I have to take all the tests over again, including the driving tests. I am more than a little bit upset about this as the state of Alabama would not be making me go through this had I stayed there. But since I moved to Illinois, they don’t trust my Alabama license enough to just give me one in their state. maybe it has something to do with an ex governor here selling CDL’s in the past?

          Did I mention that I am unemployed at the moment and looking for a job here. Guess what? The local license office does not supply the ole big rig for the driving test! How do I get the test done without the truck? Did I move to a foreign country or just to another state? It should not be this difficult for truckers to move from one state to another. I guess if I was still over the road It wouldn’t be a problem as I would have the job already and therefore the truck for the test.  I had a job lined up but now thanks to the economy it has dried up for now. Is the open road calling me again? Not really but if nothing pans out soon I may have to bite the bullet and deal with it for a bit.

          By the way, if anyone is coming through the St. Louis metro area in about two weeks and ain’t scared of me using their rig for the test let me know.

Any and all suggestions are more than welcome as I am pulling my hair out trying to figure this out and still get around to studying for the dad blamed test. Should I just get a regular job and let the CDL go ?

Stay safe out there and keep America moving.

A rain delay didn’t douse Patrick Carentier’s hopes for his first pole, He knew that a cooler, faster race track could be just the ticket that he was looking for. Reed Sorenson was on the pole when a rain shower delayed qualifying with 21 more drivers to go at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. A cooler faster track relegated reed back to sixth when all was said and done and the Canadian road course driver was at the top of the speed charts for the first time in his new career in Nascar Sprint Cup racing.

Sunday Carpentier will lead the field to the green flag in the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Another road racing giant, Dario Franchitti will start the race in the top ten with a seventh starting spot on the grid. And to think that I thought at the beginning of the season that the road racers would have a rough time of it this year trying to adjust to the new, much heavier car? Well, win one first, then I will be sold completely. And I would be remiss if I did not mention that Dale Earnhardt Junior qualified solidly in the top ten in the fifth position. You have to go way down the chart to the twenty seventh position to find points leader Kyle Busch.
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For about fifteen minutes I was enthused about the road course race out in California. That was probably because it was in high def. After I got used to it being in high def I quickly lost interest with it. Folks, I have to say this again, Road courses are just boring and a gross waste of a racing weekend.

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The drought is over finally. Yea I am talking about Dale Junior winning at Michigan, and the missing Nascar writer here at Life On The Road. Where have I been you ask, well in my job I drive a dump truck and we had a job re-paving the main highway going into the military base here. Because of the traffic on it during the day, the state made us pave it at night. So I have been on night shift for the better part of the last month.

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Speedway Motorsports Incorporated has purchased The Kentucky Speedway for a reported 78 million dollars. That is a heck of a deal for a track that cost a Hundred and fifty million to build ain’t it? This sounded fishy from the second that I heard of it. It has under the table dealing all over it and stinks to high heaven!

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Well the fan favorite from last week wins again. The Coca Cola 600 it always a great race. I know That I am a few days behind the power curve with this post but I have had a busy holiday weekend. Did everybody enjoy all the racing this past Sunday? I sure did! As soon as I got in from church I had to tune in to the Indianapolis 500, and what a great race that was. I was so hopefull that Danica Patrick could be the first woman to win the Indy 500. Man was I ticked when she got wrecked in the pits. Did you see he walking down pit road ready to kill? Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Or wrecked for that matter!

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I love Saturday night racing! There is just nothing better than 800 horsepower under the lights no matter where you race. A night in the home of Nascar is always special though, with the points not being a factor, the racing is just more intense. I thought that there would be more cautions though. Even without the cautions I still think it was a great evening. Some pit stop decisions took out any chance for some people to win though didn’t it?

Kasey

For the first time ever, the fans vote driver has won the all star race. Not only did Kasey Kahne make that history but he also gave Dodge their first victory in an all star race. Crew Chief Kenny Francis made the right call in the pits by taking on fuel only. Later that call would propel Kasey into history as Denny Hamlin lost his engine allowing Kasey to take the lead again. Greg Biffle might have had a chance to take the one million dollar plus purse had this been a longer race, as he was making a charge on the Budweiser Dodge in the closing laps. There just wasn’t enough time left to make the pass.

Gibbs Engine Woes

Tony Stewart was the only Gibbs Racing Toyota left running at the end of the night. Engine problems got the teams of Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch. The Home Depot team knew ahead of time that there were problems withthe Gibbs engines because they found a broken rocker arm after qualifying. They changed the engine causing them to have to drop back to the back of the field for the start of the race, but they were there in the ending up in fifthplace at the waving of the checkered flag. Kyle Busch had the car to beat as he was just spanking the field before he too broke a part in his engine. Shortly later the same thing for Denny Hamlin. It does make me wonder why they didn’t all three change engines when they knew that there might be a problem in all of the Gibbs engines? With a car that dominant, Kyle surely could have gotten back to the front couldn’t he have? He had a much better ride than Tony, and Tony got back up to 5th.

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Headlines all across the sports pages will read various ways, all of them proclaiming Kyle Busch the winner. But is he really a winner? I’m really not sure he is.

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Hey everybody, I’m back with the starting grid for tonight’s Dodge Challenger 500 at Darlington Raceway! Before I get to that, Did you see the Nationwide Series race last night? Did you see Kyle Busch get spun out and wrecked? I almost fell out of my chair laughing at the whole thing. When they interviewed him afterwards he was a little baby about it wasn’t he? How soon he forgets that he did the same thing just last week. It was nice to see Tony Stewart get his first win at Darlington even if it was in the Nationwide Series. I really like his car in that series. I’m not a big fan of Old Spice but the paint scheme is cool on the car.

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